2 boys rowing in Lake drown as boat capsizes

Kolkata: Two school students drowned while practising rowing at the Rabindra Sarobar after their boat capsized during the squall (popularly known as Kalbaisakhi) that swept across the city on Saturday late afternoon.

The tragic incident occurred at around 5.15 pm when the speed of the wind was at a maximum of 80-90 kilometres per hour.

There were five student rowers on the boat among whom three managed to swim to the shore but two of them went missing. A thorough search by the disaster management group managed to fish out the body after nearly two hours. The two youths, Pushan Sadhukhan and Souradeep Chatterjee were rushed to nearby hospitals where both of them were declared brought dead. Pushan was a resident of an apartment at Jheel Road in Jadavpur while Souradeep was a resident of Raja Basanta Roy Road. Both were students of South Point High School.

According to sources, six boats with rowers of different clubs were practicing for the All India School Rowing Regatta. The tragedy struck the boat that belonged to Lake Club.

"It is so unfortunate. I am associated with the club for 57 years and such an incident has never happened. The squall was so strong that there was a tremendous whirling effect in the water. All the six boats capsised and all the rowers swam to the shore safely except the two. We have suspended rowing activities for the time being," Subrata Guha, Secretary of Lake Club said.

Senior officials of Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), the custodian of Rabindra Sarobar led by CEO Antara Acharya rushed to the spot. "Safety of the rowers should be the responsibility of the club and considering the overcast sky and the weather conditions they should not have allowed the rowers during that time," a senior KMDA official said.